05/08/2017

Join me on Friday, September 29, 2017, for the MCDES Fall 2017 Conference: “Medical Aid in Dying (MAiD)—Lessons Learned in Oregon and Colorado.”

CEU’s will be available for professionals in Psychology, Marriage and Family Therapy, Social Work, Behavior Health and Therapy, Funeral Service and MN Nurses.

Speakers

David Grube, MD, is Board Certified in Family Medicine and retired after practicing for 35 years. He continues to teach medical students. He has been a leader in the Oregon Academy of Family Physicians and Oregon Academy of Family Physicians Foundation.

Kim Mooney, Certified Thanatologist, has 24 years of experience in the fi eld of dying, death, and grief. She has worked with hospices and as an independent consultant for corporations, faith communities, health care and mental health agencies. She lives and works in Colorado.

Thaddeus Mason Pope, JD, PhD, Director, Health Law Institute, Mitchell Hamline School of Law. He graduated from Georgetown University, where he received both his JD and a PhD in philosophy and bioethics.

MissionTo promote thoughtful deliberation about challenges faced by healthcare professionals andhealthcare systems as they create patient-centered policies to respond to medical aid in dying legislation and requests. We are neither promoting nor condemning aid in dying, but rather, focusing on how to achieve the best possible care for seriously ill patients and their families if medical aid in dying is legalized.

Pragmatic and Ethical Concerns

How will practicing clinicians be educated to respond to requests for physician aid-in-dying, and to connect patients to resources, such as hospice and mental health, in the course of discussing these requests?

How will required legal safeguards, such as establishing prognosis and second opinions, be implemented?

How will the “final attestation” process be implemented?

How will decision-making capacity be assessed?

How will pharmacy policies be implemented, including the management of aid-in-dying medications in health care facilities?

How will health care organizations that elect not to participate respond?

How will health care organizations assess and manage conscientious objections by clinicians or other staff?

How will health care systems share best practices as issues arise?

How will health care organizations plan for the needs and concerns of diverse populations?

Outcomes

We hope this conference will lift up “points to consider” for health care workers and organizations in drafting local policies.

We hope that ongoing collaborations between ethics, palliative care and other allied health care professionals will be one result of the conference; for example, many believe that improved palliative care services was one outcome of the physician aid-in-dying legislation in Oregon.